Mr. Bear-heels was traveling by bus from Murdo, South Dakota to Oklahoma City. The bus arrived at 16th & Jackson Street. Due to his conduct and a complaint from another passenger, Mr. Bear-heels was not allowed to board the departure bus. He is seen on video leaving the bus station at 11:50 p.m.

Sunday, June 4

3:50 p.m.

Officers were called to a business located near 63rd and Center streets to check the well-being of a man who was licking windows. Police located Bear-heels and learned he recently arrived in Omaha. He was described as talking quietly and appeared to be dehydrated. Officers gave him water, and repeatedly offered medical attention and asked if he wanted to be taken to a shelter. Bear-heels drank the water and became agitated. The officers said he appeared to be under the influence of drugs and mentally ill. The officers had no lawful reason to detain Bear-heels and he was allowed to leave the area.

10:28 p.m.

Missing Person Report

Renita Chalepah called the Omaha Police Department to report her son, Zachary Bear-heels, missing. She said he was traveling from Murdo, South Dakota to Oklahoma City. She reported he was last seen at the bus station on Sunday at 1 a.m. She told the officer her son has schizophrenia and is bipolar.

Monday, June 5

12:36 a.m.

Omaha police officers Makyla Mead and Jennifer Strudl were dispatched to the Bucky’s gas station at 60th and Center for a call of a disturbance with a party refusing to leave.

12:40 a.m.

Officer Strudl arrived at Bucky’s first. She observed a male party, later identified as Mr. Bear-heels dancing in front of the store. Officer James Mosby was in the area and stopped to assist. Officer Strudl’s cruiser camera was recording and captured various portions of this incident. Audio of the entire incident was recorded. However, the audio is not always clearly heard or discernible.

Officers Strudl and Mosby made contact with Mr. Bear-heels and attempted to obtain his identification, as well as, why he was at the Bucky’s. Mr. Bear-heels’ speech was garbled and he displayed signs of impairment. When asked for identification, he suddenly raised his hands to his head and stepped toward Officer Strudl.

12:41 a.m.

Due to his erratic behavior, the officers placed him into handcuffs, without incident.

12:43 a.m.

Officer Mead arrived. At this point, the officers were still unable to determine Mr. Bear-heels’ name or address.

12:51 a.m.

Officer Mosby left this call to go to another location to assist other officers. It was reasonable for him to leave as Mr. Bear-heels was secured in handcuffs and not posing any risk.

12:54 a.m.

Officers Mead and Strudl placed Mr. Bear-heels into the back seat of Strudl’s cruiser while they determined how to proceed. As they placed him in the cruiser, Strudl told him they would take him to where he wanted to go. The cruiser is equipped with an in-car video camera that recorded the rear passenger area. Mr. Bear-heels would remain in the cruiser for the next 36 minutes, until 1:30 a.m.

The officers located identification for Mr. Bear-heels. A records check revealed that Mr. Bear-heels was reported missing. Strudl consulted with Sgt. Erik Forehead to determine what course of action to take. Based on the information provided, Forehead determined there was insufficient justification to detain Mr. Bear-heels or place him in emergency protective custody.

1:03 a.m.

Strudl called Chalepah and during their 23-minute phone conversation they discussed options for Mr. Bear-heels. At one point, Strudl attempted to have Mr. Bear-heels talk to his mother, but his speech was unintelligible. Ms. Chalepah told her son she was trying to get him home.

She requested that her son be placed in a Crisis Center until she could get to Omaha to pick him up. During this time, Mead called Sgt. Forehead and was told that there was still no justification to hold Mr. Bear-heels. Ultimately, it was agreed that Mr. Bear-heels would be taken to the bus station, as requested by his mother.

1:27 a.m.

Officer Scotty Payne arrived. At this point, Strudl told Mr. Bear-heels that she was taking him to the bus station.

1:30 a.m.

Strudl opened the cruiser door to put the seat belt on Mr. Bear-heels. He immediately came out of the cruiser. Strudl directed him to stay in the car and to stop. She was unable to prevent him from getting out of the cruiser and he started to walk away from the three officers.

Strudl, Payne, and Mead struggled to maintain control of Bear-heels, 29, 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing 250 pounds. They attempted to get him back over to the cruiser, but were unsuccessful. They pinned him up against an outdoor display of bottled water.

1:32 a.m.

The officers radioed for backup, but their request was lost in the radio traffic due to a pursuit that just started in the city. While pinned against the water display, they encouraged him to cooperate and get back in the cruiser.

1:35 a.m.

Ryan McClarty arrived. The cruiser camera recorded and captured various portions of this incident. Audio of the incident was recorded as well.

The four officers tried to move Mr. Bear-heels to the cruiser and a struggle ensued. McClarty pulled Mr. Bear-heels to the ground and held him down and Payne warned him that he would be tased.

As each officer held a limb, they attempted to carry him to the cruiser. Immediately upon lifting him off the ground, he broke free and landed on his feet. The officers were unable to control him and disengaged. Bear-heels is in handcuffs behind his back still.

Payne announced loudly, “Taser, Taser”. Mr. Bear-heels replied with an expletive to the officers. Payne warned him two more times that he would be tased. The other officers also told him that he needed to go to the car. He was warned him for a third time that he would be tased.

McClarty closed in on Mr. Bear-heels and grabbed him. This was followed by another struggle that resulted in Mr. Bear-heels breaking away from the officers.

1:38 a.m.

Officer Payne loudly announced “Taser, Taser, Taser” and discharged his electronic control device (ECD) at Mr. Bear-heels. We refer in policy to the Taser as an electronic controlled device (ECD) the public knows it as a Taser so I will refer to it as a Taser for the remainder of this press conference. The Taser probes struck him in the abdomen and right thigh. At this time, the Taser did not effectively incapacitate Mr. Bear-heels.

McClarty then pulled Mr. Bear-heels to the ground, grabbed ahold of his ponytail and waistband and began to drag him to the cruiser. Mead grabbed Mr, Bear-heels’ right arm and assisted in getting him to the cruiser. McClarty transitioned from holding Mr. Bear-heels by the ponytail to holding him by his left arm.

During this time, the Taser probes were still attached to Mr. Bear-heels and Officer Payne continued to activate the Taser. Mr. Bear-heels was placed on the ground, in a seated position with his back against the rear tire of the cruiser. The right rear passenger door was still open, which allowed the interior cruiser camera to capture video of the aforementioned and following events.

For the next 1 minute and 45 seconds, Mr. Bear-heels sat on the ground with his legs out in front of him and offered no resistance. During this time, Payne activated the Taser three times. The first activation was unprovoked. After the Taser completed the five second cycle, Payne stepped towards Mr. Bear-heels and while standing over him said, “you’re gonna get it again.” When the next two activations occurred, Mr. Bear-heels did not offer any resistance other than minor movement of his feet and legs which posed absolutely no threat to the officers.

These are egregious violations of the Omaha Police Department’s policy, procedures and training on use of force and the use of a Taser.

1:40 a.m.

While still seated, Mr. Bear-heels was able to pull his left hand out of the handcuffs and quickly turned towards McClarty. Mr. Bear-heels swung his arms and kicked his legs at McClarty. McClarty responded by delivering fist strikes to his head and attempted a neck restraint. He then top mounted Mr. Bear-heels and delivered multiple fist strikes to his head. While McClarty delivered these strikes, Officer Payne activated his Taser.

At this time, one of the officers radioed for cars to expedite to their location. The officers struggled to get handcuffs back on Mr. Bear-heels.

1:42 a.m.

Payne radioed for a command officer and a rescue squad due to the Taser deployment. While the officers waited for assistance, they continued to pin him down to the ground and against the rear wheel of the cruiser. Mr. Bear-heels continued to struggle and can be heard making noises and yelling.

1:45 a.m.

Sgt.Forehead arrived on scene and helped secure the handcuffs on Mr. Bear-heels. Several more officers arrived within the next 1-2 minutes. The responding officers took over some of the positions, held by the original officers, to provide relief as Mr. Bear-heels continued to struggle. Flex cuffs were utilized to prevent him from kicking officers.

1:49 a.m.

Omaha Fire and Rescue personnel arrived. Mr. Bear-heels was subsequently placed on a gurney and his hands were cuffed to the rails. After he was placed in the rescue squad, Omaha Fire Medics advised officers the Mr. Bear-heels had stopped breathing and did not have a pulse.

2:02 a.m.

Omaha Medics transported Mr. Bear-heels to Nebraska Medicine with CPR in progress. Upon arrival at the hospital, Mr. Bear-heels was not breathing and did not have a pulse.

2:16 a.m.

Bear-heels was pronounced deceased.

An autopsy was completed on Tuesday. The cause of death is pending further investigation and toxicology results. We do know that blunt force trauma is not the preliminary cause of death.

At this point in the investigation, the Omaha Police Officer-Involved Investigations Team has interviewed 18 Officers, 5 Medics, and 12 citizens.

This is still an ongoing investigation. Anyone who may have witnessed any portion of this incident is encouraged to contact Omaha Police at 402-444-5656.